Book review

The story of one African American woman’s decision to undergo gastric bypass surgery.

While gastric bypass surgery is often touted by the media as “the easy way out,” and American health care professionals increasingly endorse weight loss surgery for a population plagued by obesity and its complications, A Diary of Gastric Bypass Surgery discloses the sacrifices, suffering, and commitment required to endure this complicated procedure. Using personal diary entries between 2002 and 2006, Darlene K. Drummond details her life-altering decision to undergo gastric bypass surgery. Drummond, an African American woman diagnosed as morbidly obese, diabetic, and hypertensive, describes her family history of chronic illness and obesity and shares conversations with health professionals, family, friends, coworkers, and support groups both before and after the procedure. She also includes her weekly grocery expenses, out-of-pocket medical expenses, reactions to media stories on celebrity personalities battling complications of obesity, as well as chronicles of the cognitive and behavioral changes she experienced along the way.

Darlene K. Drummond is Assistant Professor of Communication Studies at the University of Miami, Florida.